Price Check On Aisle Three News

The two best teams in the USL First Division overcame 1st leg deficits to win the semifinals and advance to next weekends Championship - Puerto Rico Islanders v Vancouver Whitecaps! But somehow the #2 seed Vancouver is going to host the final. How in the world does that work?

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Houston has become the second team to clinch a MLS playoff birth.

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Columbus defender Frankie Hejduk was suspended for Saturday nights home game v LA. So what did he do? He hung out with supporters before and for a little while during the game. What did he think about his experience? "That truly was one of the best times I've ever had at a soccer game. They made me feel like a king. They are so intense. I was like, 'Is this really what goes on?' The fire and the passion that they have are incredible." Read more in the Post game notes by Shawn Mitchell in the MLS Schedule section.

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101 Great Goals is featuring Inter forward Zlatan Imbrahimovic's kung fu goal on their front page - check this out NOW! I give it the vote for Goal of the Year, so far. (thanks to SF for finding that one.)


MLS Scoreboard

Week 28
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 2
Dallas 1-1 San Jose - FCD goal by Kenny Cooper(PK). SJE goal by Ryan Johnson.
Attendance: 7,173
Venue: Pizza Hut Park, Frisco TX
-Sat Oct 4
DC 0-3 Chivas - CUSA goals by Alecko Eskandarian, Sasha Victorine & Dejair.
Attendance: 28,145
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Post game DCU quotes from coach and player ratings by Goff on his blog Soccer Insider.
Post game quotes by coaches & players from DC United official blog Behind The Badge.
Columbus 1-0 Los Angeles - CC goal by Alejandro Moreno.
Attendance: 22,685
Venue: Crew Stadium, Columbus OH
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Post game notes by Mitchell.
New England 2-2 Salt Lake - NER goals by Steve Ralston & Taylor Twellman. RSL goals by Javier Morales & Andy Williams.
Attendance: 18,893
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
Match report by Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald.
Match report by Monique Walker of the Boston Globe.
Match report from the Deseret News, also written by McCarthy.
Match report by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
New York 1-3 Toronto - NYRB goal by Dane Richards. TFC goals by Chad Barrett(2) & Abdusalam Ibrahim.
Attendance: 13,756
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
Match report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report by Stefan Bondy of the Herald News.
Match report by Brian Lewis of the NY Post.
Match report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
Match report by Michael Lewis (same guy, another outlet) for the NY Daily News.
Match report from the Toronto Star, written by our main man Ives Galarcep.
Post game video interviews with NYRB players & coach from the teams official blog Red Bull Reader.
Player ratings for NYRB by Jack Bell of the New York Times blog Goal.
Post game analysis by Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail blog On Soccer.
Colorado 1-3 Houston - CR goal by Conor Casey. HD goals by Brian Ching(2) & Ricardo Clark.
Attendance: 12,496
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park, commerce City CO
Match report by Brian Forbes of the Denver Post.
Post game notes by George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News on their blog FC Rocky.
-Sun Oct 5
Kansas City 1-1 Chicago - KC goal by Michael Harrington. CF goal by Cuauhtemoc Blanco(PK).
Attendance: 10,385
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark, Kansas City KS
Match report from the Kansas City Star.
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Post game notes by Arroyave on his blog The Red Card.
Post game notes and coach & player quotes from the official KCW blog Hillcrest Road.

Ejections:
-Conor Casey - Colorado - 2 Yellow Cards
-Andy Williams - Salt Lake - Red Card
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League Standings
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MLS News

CD CHIVAS USA

Very nice debut for Brazilian forward Dejair. He bagged an assist and a goal. Does anyone remember Roberto Nurse?
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Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer directs us to audio of a NPR interview with midfielder Jorge Flores. It's from WBUR's sports show Only A Game. Very cool. Green is quoted in the story too!
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COLORADO RAPIDS

Terry Cooke missed a late PK attempt in the loss to Houston. He put the ball wide left.
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COLUMBUS CREW

The team clinched the top seed in the East for the playoffs.
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Michael Arace of the Dispatch says Beckman had to play 2nd fiddle to the great Crew team on Saturday night.
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DC UNITED

What sent DC down their own toilet bowl this time? A brutal misque from goalkeeper Louis Crayton who tried to get fancy with the ball and had Chivas forward Dejair strip him of it and dish to Eskie for an eazzzy goal. Howler City!
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Goff reports that Gallardo is done for the season with a knee injury. Holy Season Enders Batman.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle looks at the desire of the Dynamo to get to MLS Cup 3 years out of 3. And just how the hell they are doing it with all these games piled up.
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Brian Ching could have had 3 goals on Saturday in Colorado, but Rapids keeper Preston Burpo saved a PK attempt.
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No Beckman in Houston next weekend. He earned his 5th Yellow Card on Saturday and will have to sit out a 1 game suspension for accumulation.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives reports that the Galaxy will be the first ever team in the league to sign one of their academy players to the senior team - Tristan Bowen. Congrats to him!
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The Independent (of England) rips Beckman. And the intro paragraph calls MLS "a terrible league", but nothing in the article even comes close to addressing that subject. What a joke. More of that English pissing and moaning, while making things up.
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1 win in the last 15 games. Ouch.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

The grounds crew at Gillette stadium again did a great job of wiping out the NFL gridiron as best they could. Hue tip of the hat to them. And it was also nice to see a decent sized crowd out there too!
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The Revs propaganda machine kicks it into high gear with "I Want The Cup". Very cool videos of the team. Make sure to update Flash so this works for you.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Just 15 days after having hernia surgery, Dave van den Bergh came on as a second half sub on Saturday. Impressive. Let's hope it was not too early.
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REAL SALT LAKE

RSL nearly, very very nearly, choked away the entire 3 points in Foxborough on Saturday night. They lead 0-2 at one point, gave 2 goals back and had to save one off the goal line to get 1 point.
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No less than 10 articles in the Deseret News on Sunday pertaining to the brand new stadium that opens on Thursday night!
-Stadium construction facts
-For stadium GM Steele, hard work has paid off
-RSL officials expect early traffic hassles
-RSL players happy with new home
-Last matches key to playoff run
-RSL kept an attention to detail
-Stadium will host more than just RSL
-Things have changed a lot since '05 opener
-A home of their own
-Goodbye and good riddance to Rice-Eccles
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And the Salt Lake Tribune follows suit with 5 more articles on the teams new home.
-With stadium built, RSL owner says 'Now it has to work'
-A permanent feeling
-Most fans plan to follow team to new stadium
-Stadium generates buzz for RSL fans
-RSL has a lot riding on stadium-opening game
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Jeff Carlisle at Center Line Soccer wonders why after such a great run have the Equakes stumbled the last 2 matches.
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TORONTO FC

Hoo hoo! Did Marvell Wynne strapon a jet pack and blast the length of the field to set up a goal or what?!?!?! A thing of beauty. And not only did his speed, make hit happen, and his touch not let him down, but his pass to a wide open Chad Barrett is the kind of composure that is going to take him far. Add this to his incredible goal last week, and this man is on a serious run. All pun intended.
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The Sun goes off again on TFC being disadvantaged next weekend by players leaving for international duty, and this time at a most crucial time of the season (which is why teams need to get more serious about ALL the games ALL season long).
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GENERAL

Many of the best players in the league will miss games again next weekend due to international duty. So so sad.
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Just so everyone is clear - the first tie breaker is head to head competition, the second tie breaker is total goal differential.
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Steve Davis of ESPN Soccernet with 10 things to note from Week 28.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider with his weekly league review - The Good, The Bad & The Coyote Ugly.
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Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com with his breakdown of the week that was.
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MLS Golden Boot

19 Landon Donovan
16 Kenny Cooper
13 Edson Buddle
12 Brian Ching
11 Luciano Emilio
11 Juan Pablo Angel
10 Jaime Moreno
9 Conor Casey
9 Chad Barrett
9 Alejandro Moreno
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Stefan Bondy of the Herald News says the latest Theirry Henry to MLS rumor is connected to the New York Red Bulls. Not surprising.
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Goal.com reports that Seattle are chasing Deportivo Cali striker Freddy Montero.
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USL First Division Playoff Schedule

Semifinal 1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Fri Oct 3
Rochester 2-0 Puerto Rico - RR goals by Andrew Gregor & Johnn Menyongar.
Montreal 1-0 Vancouver - MI goal by Antonio Ribeiro.
Notes:
-This loss was PRI's first in 18 games in all competitions!
-PRI had both Edwin Miranda & Scott Jones ejected.
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Semifinal 2nd leg Matches & Scores:
-Sun Oct 5
Puerto Rico 3-0 Rochester - PRI goals by Fabrice Noel, Taiwo Atieno & Cristian Arrieta.
Vancouver 2-0 Montreal - VW goals by Jeff Clarke & Eduardo Sebrango.
Notes:
-Both winners came back from 1st leg shut out losses to record 2nd leg shut outs themselves.
-This is only Puerto Rico's first time in the league championship. Great for them.
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The final will be played next weekend in Vancouver, with date & time tba.
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Team USA

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider gets a couple seconds with coach Bob Bradley, a true rarity these days..
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Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News and Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram both write about Pachuca defender Jose Torres who will pull on the USA shirt for the first time in the next two World Cup qualifiers! But remember, until he actually steps on the field for an actual game, he can still play for the USA or Mexico, cuz he had duel citizenship.
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Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives reports that even after Torres said "Yes" to the USA, the Mexican Federation has continued to court him.
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Andrea Canales on her blog Sideline Views translates an article from ESPN Deportes about Torres choosing the USA over Mexico, and then translates quotes from Torres in Mexican paper ESTO.
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Frank Dell'apa at ESPN Soccernet looks at how the USA defense is getting it done. But this is now....
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David Mosse at ESPN Soccernet examines the newest USA roster.
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USA U17 News

Justin Rodriguez at ESPN Soccernet with his newest in a series of articles on our next and maybe brightest generation of USA star youngsters - this time on my personal favorite: Carlos Martinez. The bad news is that he has been kicked out of the USA residency program in Bradenton FL!
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Soccer In America

For the first time New Jerseyite Giuseppe Rossi has been included in the 23 player roster for Italy's senior team World Cup qualifiers the week & next.
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Americans In Europe

I don't think anyone can say they saw this one coming - Matt Taylor scored 3 goals for Koblenz in the German second division! They went on to win 5-0. But a hat trick from Matt Taylor!!!! That is insane! I have critized him many times for not being able to hit the broad side of a barn! All hail Matt Taylor! Fantastic job man!
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Michael Bradley has only been at Monchengladbach a few weeks, and yesterday the coach who brought him there, Jos Luhuka, was fired. Good or bad news? The interim coach Christain Ziege is a good friend of Kasey Keller.
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Reading are in 3rd place in the English Championship division.
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MOST RECENT MATCHES
(NOTE:This week I chose not to list players who didn't see any field time.)

French Ligue 1
-Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - went the distance in a stunning win over 7 time consecutive league champs Lyon, 3-0 at home!
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German Bundesliga 1
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went all 90 in a 1-1 road draw at Dortmund.
-Neven Subotic - Borussia Dortmund - played all 90, got a Yellow Card and they were held 1-1 at home by Hannover.
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German Bundesliga 2
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - played all 90 minutes and they won at Frankfurt 0-3.
-Matt Taylor - Koblenz - WOW! Went all 90 and scored a HAT TRICK in a 5-0 home win over Kaiserslautern.
-David Yelldell - Koblenz - got the shut out as they beat Kaiserslautern 5-0 at home.
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Dutch Erstedivisie
-Charles Kazlauskas - TOP Oss - went the distance as they drew 0-0 at home against Dordrecht.
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Belgian Jupiler League
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played the full match but the wheels came off at they lost 4-1 at Cercle Brugge.
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Austrian Bundesliga
-Preston Zimmerman - Kapfenberg - played all 90 in a 0-0 road draw at Austria Vienna.
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English Premier League
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - started and went the full 90 but they lost 1-0 at West Brom.
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - in goal as usual but lost 2-0 at Chelsea.
-Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance and drew 2-2 at home against Newcastle.
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English Championship Division
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - started and went 89 minutes as they beat Preston 2-1 at home.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - in goal as always, and they won 3-1 at home over Burnley.
-Eddie Johnson - Cardiff - came on as a sub in the 85th minute as they drew 1-1 at Blackpool.
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English League One
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - played all 90 but lost 0-4 at home against MK Dons.
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Danish SAS Ligaen
-Dan Califf - Midjtylland - played the entire match and they won 1-0 at home over Nordsjaelland.
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - came in as a sub in the 66th minute, and they lost at Sonderjyske 1-0.
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - came on as a sub in the 67th minute, picked up a Yellow Card, and lost 1-0 at Esbjerg.
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Norwegian Tippeligaen:
-Troy Perkins - Valerenga - went the whole 90 and won 1-2 at Bodo Glimt.
-Brian Waltrip - Molde - at home against Brann on Monday.
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Norwegian Adeccoligaen:
-Joe Lapira - Nybergsund - went the distance and won 2-0 at home over Haugesund.
-Jay Needham - Alta - played the full match but lost at home 1-2 to Kongsvinger.
-Kyle Veris - Hodd - went the whole match, got a Yellow Card and drew 0-0 at home against Notodden.
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Swedish Allsvenskan:
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - drew 1-1 at Gefle
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - at Goteborg on Monday.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - started but only played 29 minutes as they drew 1-1 at Gefle.
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Americans in Mexico

Luis Bueno of Sideline Views recaps the weekend for ours boys who play in the FMF.
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CONCACAF Champions League News

Official CCL website
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Matchday 4 Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 7
Cruz Azul v Marathon
Houston Dynamo v San Francisco - 9pm central on FSC
-Wed Oct 8
Joe Public v Impact de Montreal - 7pm central on FSC
Olimpia v Atlante
Municipal v Tauro
Santos Laguna v Puerto Rico Islanders - 10pm central on FSC
-Thu Oct 9
Luis Angel Firpo v UNAM Pumas
Saprissa v DC United - 9pm central on FSC
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

FIFA.com says its do or die for Guatemala this weekend.
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FIFA.com also has an article on Rodrigo Kenton, the new man in charge of Costa Rica.
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Canada & CSA News

The Toronto Sun reports that Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad has said "No" to a national team call up.
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South American News

The real Ronaldo begins full time training with Flamengo this week as his recovery from knee surgery gets closer to completion. They think he will play by the end of this month.
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Tim Vickery of the BBC on the Argentine who divides all the fans opinions - Juan Roman Riquelme.
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England News

When Saturday Comes with the latest on potential new owners for both Newcastle and Everton.
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The Guardian with a round up from the lower English divisions - Championship, League One and League Two.
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And Rob Smyth of the Guardian wonders if Liverpool just might have what it takes to win the league this season.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports doesn't think Tottenham, as its stands right now, can be saved this season.
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England's roster for World Cup qualifiers on Sat Oct 11 v Kazakhstan, and Wed Oct 15 at Belarus:
G:
Scott Carson - West Brom
Robert Green - West Ham
David James - Portsmouth
D:
Wayne Bridge - Chelsea
Wes Brown - Manchester United
Ashley Cole - Chelsea
Rio Ferdinand - Manchester United
Glen Johnson - Portsmouth
Joleon Lescott - Everton
John Terry - Chelsea
Matthew Upson - West Ham
M:
Gareth Barry - Aston Villa
David Beckham - Los Angeles Galaxy
Stuart Downing - Middlesbrough
Steven Gerrard - Liverpool
Jermaine Jenas - Tottenham
Frank Lampard - Chelsea
Theo Walcott - Arsenal
Shaun Wright-Phillips - Manchester City
F:
Peter Crouch - Portsmouth
Jermain Defoe - Portsmouth
Emile Heskey - Wigan
Wayne Rooney - Manchester United
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European News

GERMANY

At the end of this article from Bild you will see some hilarious pictures of Bayern Munich players and staff celebrating Oktoberfest.
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ITALY

Ibra-cadabra! Did you see the insane goal scored by Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Inter this weekend??? This goal is magnificent. There is a link to it at the top of today's post.
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Paolo Bandini of the Guardian says Juventus coach Clauio Ranieri is now under serious pressure, and other Serie A from the weekend.
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Football Italia with a review of Round 6 in Serie A.
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NETHERLANDS

Leander Schaerlaeckens of the Guardian on this seasons new hotshots - Gronigen, and the rest of the Eredivisie.
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SPAIN

Phil Ball of ESPN Soccernet raves about Valencia manager Unai Emery, and the rest of the news from La Liga.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about the massive beatdown that Barcelona laid on Atletico Madrid! Whoo-eeee!
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian chimes in on the Barca demolition squad and the weekend in Spain.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Spain coach Vincente Del Bosque.
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UEFA Champions League

Matchday 3 is Oct 21 & 22.
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UEFA Cup

The Group matches begin Thu Oct 23.
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Big Club Matches This Week

Portuguese Liga
-Sun Oct 5
Sporting 1-2 Porto - the home team loses in one of the Big Three derbies.
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Premiership
-Sun Oct 5
Chelsea 2-0 Aston Villa - the strong get stronger and remain at #1, while the other falls to #5.
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La Liga
-Sat Oct 4
Barcelona 6-1 Atletico - a favorite DESTROYS a top challenger.
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Bundesliga
-Sat Oct 4
Stuttgart 4-1 Werder Bremen - not even close between 2 team who want the title.
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Greek Super League
-Sun Oct 5
Olympiacos 2-0 AEK Athens - an old classic.
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World News

Duncan Castles of the Observer talks to seldom heard from, and very controversial player agent Kia Joorabchian. He was the man behind the Carlos Tevez & Javier Mascherano - West Ham mess.